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Mines and Money London 2021
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‘Just as you remember it, but better’ – reports live from London for Mines and Money’s emphatic return to in-person conferencing
MINES AND MONEY LONDON 2021
‘Just as you remember it, but better’ – reports live from London for Mines and Money’s emphatic return to in-person conferencing
After two years of COVIDrelated disruption and a series of virtual-only conferences, Mines and Money returned to London over December 01-02 for its first in-person event since the pandemic developed in early 2020. Not to be deterred by fears surrounding the new Omicron variant, over 1,000 delegates flocked to the Business Design Centre in North London for consecutive days of in-person networking, keynote panels and fireside discussions had by some of the biggest movers and shakers in the industry. Over 1,500 meetings between around 400 investors and 80 mining corporates took place during the two days, in an emphatic return to physical conferencing. As a leading media partner of Mines and Money, the RGN team attended the event and provided live coverage from the plenary theatre as well as from the bustling exhibiting floor. Below is RGN’s breakdown of what occurred over the course of the two days at Europe’s largest mining investment conference.
Outgoing Anglo American boss receives lifetime achievement award
Anglo American chief executive Mark Cutifani was honoured to receive Mines and Money’s lifetime achievement award for his services to the industry over the breadth of his career at the diversified mining giant.
Cutifani announced in November that he would be stepping down from his role at the helm of Anglo, to be replaced by 54-year old South African Duncan Wanblad, who is currently head of strategy at the company.
In the opening session on day one, Cutifani dialled in virtually to the audience to deliver a presentation on the role of mining in the process of decarbonisation and the global green economy.
“We need to halve emissions by 2030 to achieve 1.5 degrees of global warming in line with
MINES AND MONEY HEAD OF CONTENT ANDREW THAKE OPENS THE SHOW
MINES AND MONEY HEAD OF CONTENT ANDREW THAKE OPENS THE SHOW
“From all the feedback we have received from miners and investors, Mines and Money London was an overwhelming success in spite of some of the challenges of organising live events due to travel restrictions. I’m grateful to RGN for all of their support. We look forward to an even bigger and better Mines and Money London in 2022” Andrew Thake, Mines and Money head of content
the Paris goals,” he said. “We are going to need many metals and minerals to achieve those goals, such as lithium and cobalt, along with fertilisers for the agriculture sector.”
Saudi mines minister invites industry to Riyadh for Future Minerals Summit
His excellency Khalid bin Saleh Al-Mudaifer, Saudi Arabia’s Vice Minister of Mining Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, delivered a keynote address to the Mines and Money audience highlighting the strong growth potential of the Saudi mining sector.
Mining is set to play a significant role in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 framework, which seeks to diversify the economy away from oil. Up to US$1.3 trillion of resource value could be unlocked through the plan to transform the Saudi mining sector, according to the government.
“In recent years, Saudi Arabia has built a track record in metals and minerals extraction, backed by a new
ANGLO AMERICAN CEO MARK CUTIFANI DELIVERS A SPEECH AFTER WINNING A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
“Despite all the interruptions, Mines & Money 2021 proved to be a huge success. The new format with ESG engagement at the heart of the conference, fiercely fought pitch battles and a bustling audience was a welcome change to the last two years” Jamie Strauss, Digbee founder and CEO
SAUDI ARABIA’S VICE MINISTER OF MINING AFFAIRS KHALID BIN SALEH AL-MUDAIFER DELIVERS A KEYNOTE ADDRESS
DIGBEE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND FOUNDER JAMIE STRAUSS DISCUSSES ESG IN A KENYOTE ADDRESS
SAUDI ARABIA’S VICE MINISTER OF MINING AFFAIRS KHALID BIN SALEH AL-MUDAIFER DELIVERS A KEYNOTE ADDRESS
mining investment law,” AlMudaifer said. The inaugural Future Minerals Summit will take place in Riyadh from January 11-13, with more than 12 government ministers from the MENA region already confirmed.
Mining CEO of the year goes to Endeavour’s Simon de Montessus
Day one of Mines and Money London was rounded off by the Outstanding Achievement awards ceremony and subsequent drinks reception. Endeavour Mining’s Simon de Montessus was delighted to receive the coveted CEO of the year award, despite not being able to pick the award up in person.
Another recipient was Alliance Bernstein’s Danielle Chagumira, who was given the Charles Kernot mining analyst of the year award. De Grey Mining was rewarded for its exploration exploits in Western Australia, picking up the discovery of the year gong.
Royal Road Resources was awarded ESG exploration/
On the sidelines with : Asante Gold to bring Bibiani mine online in Q3 next year
One of the mining corporates in attendance at Mines and Money was Ghana-focused Asante Gold. The firm acquired the Bibiani Gold Mine from Resolute Mining earlier this year, and it aims to propel the project back into production by Q3 of 2022.
On care and maintenance since 2014, the project – located along Ghana’s Bibiani-Sefwi gold belt – will produce around 170,000 ounces of gold in its first year, followed by 200,000 ounces in the second year and up to 250,000 ounces after six years.
Speaking exclusively to RGN at the event, Asante’s chief operating officer Dave Anthony described Ghana as an ‘exceptional’ host country in the African space. “Rule of law is paramount, the people are wonderful and very capable as mine operators. It’s a very mature industry and processes around mine licencing are well ingrained and understood,” he said.
AT A GLANCE
STOCK TICKER: CSE:ASE, FSE:1A9, OTC:ASGOF MARKET CAPITALISATION: US$235.3 million (as of December 07, 2021) a j
On the sidelines with : Tier One Silver producing astounding grades at Curibaya in Peru
Peter Dembicki of Tier One Silver delivered a standout mining spotlight presentation on the main stage during day two. The president, CEO and director described the Canadian company as an ‘aggressive explorer’ of silver, gold and base metals in Peru.
After seeing some of the astronomical grade intercepts achieved at the company’s flagship Curibaya project, RGN was able to catch up with Dembicki later in the day. “Soon after we did our initial geological testing at Curibaya, we received some astounding rock samples with grades I don’t think anyone has ever seen before,” he told RGN’s editor.
“The next step was trenching and channel sampling to determine if there were veins outcropping on surface. When that came back with economic wins all over the place, the green light was given by our geologists to bring the drills out and start targeting these structures.”
Within the first six holes, Tier One intersected 1 metre of 1,480.5 g/t silver eq within a broader interval of 444.5 g/t silver eq. “We’re really liking the next six that are in the lab right now and we hope to have a few more results in the bag soon,” said a confident Dembicki. Watch this space.
AT A GLANCE
STOCK TICKER: TSXV:TSLV, OTCQB:TSLVF MARKET CAPITALISATION: US$83.7 million (as of December 07, 2021) a j
“The Mines and Money conference in London was an exceptional opportunity to share the Tier One Silver story with European based investors, in-person and virtually. The world class potential of our two projects, Hurricane Silver and Curibaya, deserve to be heard globally, and this conference was a fantastic platform to showcase the company” Peter Dembicki, Tier One Silver president and CEO
development company of the year, and Golden Star Resources was given the corresponding ESG award in the producers sphere. Congratulations to all the recipients of the 2021 awards.
ROYAL ROAD MINERALS WINS ESG EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Mining can tackle poverty, Barrick’s Mark Bristow tells audience
Barrick Gold president and CEO Mark Bristow spoke of the mining sector’s acute corporate social responsibilities within the regions and communities they operate in, during an eagerly anticipated fireside chat with ICMM’s CEO Rohitesh Dhawan in the afternoon of day two.
ROYAL ROAD MINERALS WINS ESG EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR
TIER ONE SILVER BOSS PETER DEMBICKI ON THE MAIN STAGE
BARRICK GOLD CEO AND ICMM CHIEF EXECUTIVE ROHITESH DHAWAN ENJOY A FIRESIDE CHAT
“Every nation in the world has the right to benefit from its natural endowment through the process of responsible mining. In particular, poverty eradication is a crucial part of our sustainability outlook at Barrick,” Bristow told the audience.
The supremely experienced executive referred to Barrick’s industry-leading sustainability work across Africa throughout the last decade, including in
I would like to say a big thank you to the 1,000+ attendees that supported Mines and Money London. I’m not in the habit of speaking on other people’s behalf but it was fairly obvious to see the excitement on people’s faces that they were finally back meeting old Industry friends, new business contacts and discussing exciting opportunities on offer in 2022. We are really excited for next year with more in-person events” Mike Hill, Mines and Money event director
DIGBEE’S JAMIE STRAUSS AND SATARLA’S SARAH GORDON the DRC. The company has helped deliver clean energy solutions and highly qualified, highly paid jobs to formerly underserved regions of the country.
There was also a candid discussion about the
“Mines and Money delivered a great event despite some travel headwinds created by the pandemic. You get out of conferences what you put into them as a participant and this year I got a lot of value from the targeted meetings I had at the show. After two years of virtual calls, I was once again reminded of the critical importance of spending time with people in person” Robert Dixon, Dundee Goodman Merchant Partners managing director
difficulties had in Tanzania by Barrick’s former subsidiary Acacia Mining. “We set out to repair relations with the government and local communities by providing a transparent framework outlining how we share the value created by our mining,” Bristow said.
A new ESG paradigm for the mining sector
One of the dominant themes of Mines and Money London was the prominence of ESG in the global mining industry. Jamie Strauss, chief executive and founder of ESG solutions provider Digbee, provided an authoritative voice on the topic, in a memorable address to the audience. “The mining industry carries the hope of the world, but you would be forgiven for not realising this given mining wasn’t included in the recent COP26 climate conference,” Strauss said. “Mining offers so much, but it needs to prove its ESG credentials to remain credible to the wider world.”
RGN MANAGING DIRECTOR SIMON CURRAN WINS A NEW SET OF GOLF CLUBS, COURTESY OF PW MINING
RGN MANAGING DIRECTOR SIMON CURRAN WINS A NEW SET OF GOLF CLUBS, COURTESY OF PW MINING
Speaking to RGN later in the day, Strauss outlined in greater detail Digbee’s ESG product offering to the mining market. “Digbee’s three frameworks are aligned to existing global standards and aim to remove confusion, raise credibility and open up avenues for miners to communicate their track record and ESG journey. “I think the debate on ESG has moved on quickly during the past 12 months. There’s now a realisation that every company – from explorers all the way up to the biggest producers – must prove their ESG credentials. Ultimately, these credentials will have an impact on the pricing of the commodities in question, and whether or not some trade at a premium to others,” Strauss explained. RGN would like to extend a massive thanks to Mines and Money for delivering a brilliant in-person event for the first time in two years. Don’t forget to register for the next global mining event – the inauguralFuture Minerals Summit, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 11-13 2022!
